Roy Keane puts Martin O'Neill in the same class as Sir Alex Ferguson as Republic of Ireland prepare for World Cup play-off showdown with Denmark

• e-mail

Roy Keane isn't the sort who dishes out praise lightly, yet he reckons the Republic of Ireland couldn't be in 'better hands' for their World Cup duels with Denmark with Martin O'Neill on the bridge.

Having worked alongside O'Neill for four years, and 44 games, the Irish assistant manager has a handle on what makes the 65-year-old tick and compares him favourably to Brian Clough and Alex Ferguson.

'The key to the really top managers — and I go back to the managers whom I worked with — is saying the right thing at the right time,' said Keane on Tuesday. 

Roy Keane has compared Martin O'Neill favourably with Sir Alex Ferguson and Brian Clough

'Obviously, that will not be through the media but at a team talk, maybe in the dressing-room, maybe at half time, pre-match or be it in a hotel.

'And I know that if I was a player, I'd like Martin's messages. Of course, you are going to say that I have to say that because I work with him!' he smiled. 

'But I always try to picture myself as a player and if these were the messages that I was getting from the manager I would be going, "Yes, I get that".'

Asked did he see parallels in O'Neill to Ferguson, his manager at Manchester United for 13 years, Keane said. 'Absolutely, without a doubt. There are hundreds and thousands of coaches out there, but management is different.

'It's about saying the right thing at the right time, the right tone, the right message. You simplify things,' he added. 

'I worked with Brian Clough and Alex Ferguson and whatever you say about Ferguson, in team talks it was about saying the right thing, about getting the tone right, which he did.

O'Neill takes Republic of Ireland into a crunch World Cup play-off with Denmark later this week

'I'd certainly have no problem mentioning Martin in the same breath as them [Clough and Ferguson].'

O'Neill has completed almost 1,000 games on the management front-line, spanning 28 years, and Keane reckons such experience will be invaluable as Ireland fine-tune their preparations to face the Danes.

Asked what O'Neill will bring to a week of this magnitude, Keane's answer was revealing.

'It's a difficult one. Sometimes it will be his experience, his knowledge of football, but also his management of players, which is great. 

'I certainly don't think we'd could be in better hands going into the week with Martin as the manager, without a doubt.

'I have been very fortunate and pretty lucky in my career to work with some great managers. Even in my role with Martin, I could not learn from a better manager.'

Keane was in such chipper form on Monday you'd half think he was about to go off on holidays rather than pack his bag for a World Cup play-off.

Keane played for Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United and for Clough at Nottingham Forest

He joked that his role with Ireland was akin to making cups of tea, which he insisted he was very good at. 

He also said he wouldn't lose any sleep over Jeff Hendrick's fitness issues or Eamon Dunphy's remarks that the Irish management team were a cabaret act.

But the easy-going nature will harden into a steely competitive edge come tomorrow when Ireland fly to Copenhagen and the World Cup battle heightens. 

That's when Keane will earn his corn, with a word here and there, and a fiery glance or two if things aren't executed properly in training.

For Keane remains a perfectionist. He knows the Irish team are no world-beaters but believes they can be better at what they do, on and off the ball. 

There are comparisons to his own career which saw an ordinary player progress to extraordinary heights through sheer drive and stubborn persistence.

Ireland, in their own limited way, have done something similar. Over the course of 22 competitive qualifiers under the O'Neill-Keane axis, Ireland have only lost to three opponents, Scotland, Poland and Serbia.

They've beaten Germany, won in Austria, and in Wales, and didn't lose their way in the fog in the Euro 2016 play-off against Bosnia-Herzegovina either. All those collective adventures will be vital against the Danes, insists Keane.

Ireland have only lost to three opponents in 22 qualifiers under the O'Neill and Keane axis

'I think what stands to you is the experience of it, the game management. It's knowing that we don't have to score in the first five or 10 minutes, knowing that we might have to soak up pressure, and understanding the physical challenge that we face with Denmark.

'People say you need the away goal and in an ideal world you'd like five away goals. Can you win it in the first 90 minutes of the tie? It would be very difficult, but I think you can lose it.

'We are a high energy team, it doesn't necessarily suit us to sit in and try to be clever and play on the counter-attack. I think it suits us to be on the front foot, to be going for it.'

In his playing prime, Keane drove Ireland to qualification for two World Cup finals, in 1994 and 2002. 

If the latter didn't work out as anyone wanted — Saipan still polarises opinion over 15 years on — Keane has now chalked up 101 internationals as player and assistant manager.

Reaching Russia could be interpreted as his final act of redemption.